Category: slack bot

In 2016, the chatbot discussion had begun, and it spread all over the internet. And it didn’t stop, as we are still talking about the possibilities and how chatbots can change the way we work and interact with technology today.

What would be the number one reason to have a chatbot for your business?

To answer this, we need to look into the history of online technology development.

The Internet

When the electronic computer was developed, it offered a new space of communication to be developed, and the internet was born.

The internet dates back to 1969, as this was the year where the first message was sent from one computer to another. The first message was sent from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) to the second network node at Stanford Research Institute (SRI).

The internet opened a new possibility ─ the World Wide Web.

World Wide Web

The World Wide Web, also known as “WWW,” is something different. It’s not the actual internet, as a lot of people don’t distinguish the difference.

In 1989, a scientist, Tim Berners-Lee, invented the World Wide Web and created the first web browser. He coined the term WWW with naming his computer program (the first browser). Later, they renamed it Nexus.

This is where internet magic was born, and new digital space was created.

Websites

With the creation of web browsers, the first website was also created.

Tim Berners-Lee, who was working as a physicist at CERN, created the first website http://info.cern.ch. By the end of 1993, there were more than 600 websites on the internet.

After all of this, people started to commercialize the internet and start to create websites for their companies.

Mobile Apps

Since the year 2,000, everything has changed with the creation of Smartphones, and with the natural progress of technology, was the creation of Mobile Apps.

Because phones became the most used devices in the world, companies, like Microsoft, and the creation of Hotmail Messenger, opened a different way of communicating with people, and it was free to send text over your PC.

Facebook took this model and created Facebook Messenger, and took advantage of smartphones and made a Mobile App that is one of the most used today.

Chatbots

The use of chatbots and the purpose of their creation was to simplify Customer Support and the ability for companies to be reached 24/7.

Facebook wants to take chatbots to the next level, and that’s why they allowed chatbot integration into Messenger.

They are creating a new field and a new opportunity to monetize Messenger, and chatbots are the tools where they will achieve this.

Final Thoughts

The number one reason to build a chatbot for business is? It’s precisely the reasons that I just mentioned.

You should learn from history and the development of online technology, and see the potential that chatbots have.

If Facebook sees the potential, you need to see that too. If you don’t have a chatbot, you will miss out on a lot.

Embrace this technology while it’s new. ChattyPeople is here to help, so register for free today and make a chatbot for your business.

Yes, we are using chatbots in a good way. This is not a first time for change ─ the good kind of change for companies.

From going to a store and dealing with long lines so we can address a concern about a product, we have gone to a telephone call to do the same. However, a phone call is still not the right answer. And that’s why we will turn to chatbot technology instead.

Are we driven to avoid human contact? Here are 6 reasons why this may be the case:

1. The 1-800 Nightmare

To reach a customer representative over the phone, using the 1-800 telephone number is a nightmare. “Please stay on the line while we connect you…” Well, you all know the line, followed by the annoying background music.

Who wouldn’t want to avoid this?

2. Bad Tempers

Have you experienced a bad temper or a moody customer service rep? Most of us have. Yes, people have troubles, and sometimes they bring personal problems to work which reflect in their attitudes towards customers.

This won’t be the case with chatbots, as they don’t experience moods. They will not freak out on us and won’t offend us, and they will show professionalism in every way.

3. Attitude Problems

You are walking in a store and someone who had a long day of work gives you the attitude that feels like you did something wrong. You are approaching them for help, and they are acting like you are in their home, and just crossed the line.

Again, chatbots will never act as if you are encroaching upon their space.

4. Lack of Knowledge

Not everyone is putting in the effort to learn more and upgrade their knowledge of the field that they are in. So many times, we are misguided and get the wrong information, And, in the end, we lose a lot of time and our patience, as well.

With chatbots, all of that will change, as it will be easier to mentor a chatbot than teams of people.

5. How Good is Customer Satisfaction?

At the University of Michigan, the American Customer Satisfaction Institute provides monthly ratings to 240 companies across 34 industries. The ratings they are gathering is mostly about customer service provided by these businesses and their employees. The number that they are getting in retail is 78 which is equal to a student grade of a “C” average.

6. Harmful for Business

Poor customer service is harming a lot of businesses. Most companies don’t receive the bad feedback because people, in general, don’t want to waste more time with the company.

Here is how many people complained about a bad experience:

Only up to 5% report the problem to management or HQ.

45% of complaints are received by front-line representatives, to an agent or a branch.

And 50% don’t complain about the encountered problem, at all.

This is why businesses are starting to use chatbot technology, as it can provide better customer service for their customers, and will save them money in the long run.

Final Thoughts

Are we using chatbots to avoid human contact?

Of course not, we are just trying to avoid bad tempers and human errors behind the work that we do.

Chatbots are becoming more professional and won’t get mad at us for asking a “stupid question.”

Don’t let your company suffer ─ be more involved with new technology ─ it will help give your customers a better experience for your brand.

Use our platform here at ChattyPeople, and take advantage of the starter plan and start building your chatbot for free today.

This one is critical of how we are using chatbots. What I mean is that you need to consider what platform you are using to shop on. Is it a random website or a well-known store platform?

Using a chatbot on an unsecured website could become an information security risk. Therefore, for e-Store owners, we need to establish an encrypted channel that will provide the safety we demand for our customers.

2. Payment

Payment is, I think, the most important security issue. When payments are involved, no matter what channel you use, you need to provide well-proven and secure payment methods to your customers so you can provide trust and ensure their way of shopping.

Even if today’s banking system differs from the last couple of years, and the bank itself provides security, you are obligated to make your digital space safe for your consumers.

3. User Identity Authentication

This one, as all security issues, is important, but I would say, critical.

Chatbots are in the beginning stages still, as they are a new technology, and a lot of companies, new and old, will want to take advantage of one.

User identification could be a problem for new startups to gain trust in because the old and well-established brands have been with us for a while. Because of this, they have already built a trust connection with their customers, and it’s easier to give information to someone you have already worked with that is using a new technology.

It’s like your well known Rickshaw rider bought a car and now is a Taxi driver.

4. Hacks

Every new technology is vulnerable to security breaches via hackers who want to find users’ information and exploit it. Hackers can easily probe through simple channels of communication, so you need to provide well-established security steps if you want to use a chatbot as a tool for your website.

5. Identity Theft

Identity thieves use the information they can obtain online to abuse and take advantage of your bank account and they can ruin your credit rating. So, again, I would say this will be a trust problem for users to use a new technology with a new brand and will provide a little piece of mind if we use a well-known brand instead. But there is protection available, even for startup companies, so be sure to utilize it.

6. Scams

As with every channel on the internet that we have used so far, there are scammers, and there will be scammers to be aware of in the future.

The good thing about chatbots is that you can block them through Messenger.

I need to mention these well-known security risks ─ well known in the computer world ─ Viruses, Malware and Spyware.

♦Virus

As we all know, viruses have been with us from the beginning of the computer industry. You should be aware of viruses, as well as malware, and don’t allow yourself to download and install something from a chatbot because chatbots can use it instantly and there is no installation required when dealing with chatbots.

♦ Malware

What is Malware?

Malware is software that is intended to damage or disable computers and computer systems. There is a big possibility for it to be spread through chatbots, but one thing is on our side, and that is that the malware chatbot will send you a download file, so keep this in mind: Don’t download a file that you don’t recognize.

Your protection is that chatbots don’t require downloading and especially installing an App or software.

♦ Spyware

Spyware is a computer program or Mobile App that can retrieve information about a computer and forward it to an external party. So, I will say, remember this trio of programs and don’t install anything from a chatbot, at all.

7. Facebook is an Answer

With all the above-mentioned issues, we can still have a little peace of mind: If you use Facebook as a channel to connect to the bigger audiences and a way to sell, we all know what kind of company Facebook is, and that they are providing the necessary security that we need to have.

And, when implementing your shopping experience through Facebook, they provide payment methods that are proven to be trusted and secured.

If you use a well-known and established social network, like Facebook, and take advantage to sell through them, you will gain customers’ confidence and provide security and teams of people that are working on security and improving it every day.

Final Thoughts with ChattyPeople

As every new idea has risks, so is the way with chatbots. But one thing is for sure: We have more experience and more knowledge than before.

Be sure to keep one thing in mind when deciding to build a chatbot: Use a bot building platform that can be integrated with Facebook.

In the past, when people wanted to shop, they relied on a salesperson to give them a suggestion on a good product.

Today, all of that has changed, as people do their research and know exactly what they want.

Chatbots can help a customer with their research and help them to find what they are looking for with relevant suggestions.

Mobile eCommerce

This is the trend that we have seen over the past couple of years ─ mobile eCommerce.

Shopping and buying via our smartphones have become the number one source of sales for retailers.

With chatbots, the shopping experience will change again to be much faster than regular mobile shopping. With integration into the Messaging Apps, the process of buying the product and searching for the right one will be shortened.

Price

Price of the product is most crucial for Millennials, and it’s one of the challenged quests for today’s eCommerce.

People are connected 24/7 and have their smartphones with them all of the time, and with this, they can check the prices in more places and choose the same product for less.

Voice

Voice is the next level for the chatbot generation.

With Voice, we simplify the way we shop. Also, this is very helpful for shopping for products you already saw either on a commercial or in a store, but it doesn’t fulfill the customers’ expectations completely because people want to visualize the product.

This is the reason why chatbots in the Messenger Apps will have success in retail ─ because of the ability to show and recommend a product to customers.

Visual Search

Pinterest delivered the expectations of the consumers, by providing visual search for products.

52% of shoppers using Pinterest have seen something on Pinterest and made a purchase online, according to statistics realized by companies.

Engagement

Engagement will be the strongest issue for chatbots interacting with the power of Artificial Intelligence. This is how companies will follow the customers’ experience. This is because of the nature that people have, to chat and message each other.

Final Thoughts with ChattyPeople

Chatbots are already engaging some companys’ customers. Are they engaging your customers?

If not, you need to act fast and provide your clients with this new experience, an interaction with a chatbot.

Don’t miss the opportunity to improve your business. Use our platform here at ChattyPeople to build your chatbot. We have a plan for you where you can start for free.

Chatbots are most utilized in the Customer Support field, as we are starting to see them all over the internet and are interacting with them daily. There are times when we are not sure that we are even chatting with a chatbot, and it doesn’t matter because we quickly find what we are looking for.

2. Legal

The world’s first chatbot lawyer, DoNotPay bot, proved itself at first by doing a good job with parking tickets. Now DoNotPay bot is heading to something bigger: Suing Equifax for us.

3. Virtual Assistant

This kind of chatbot is pretty handy for everyone. You can use a Virtual Assistant chatbot as your personal assistant for personal needs or in business to provide assistance for your team.

4. Sales

With the ability given to chatbots to push and offer sales, companies are gaining new interactive sales agents within the digital world.

5. Travel Agent

We have all used Travel bots and find that they are more convenient to work with than humans; they are providing us with more information in less time. And, with the fast payment process, you can secure the deal you found and have more time to concentrate on other arrangements for your trip.

6. Credit Score Chatbot

The company named Clear Score provides free credit score updates, and with a chatbot, it can help you to improve your credit score as it becomes your personal credit score coach.

7. Chatbots for Food

Dominos and Taco Bell are among the first fast-food companies that have given us the opportunity to order food from their restaurants via a bot. Now we can skip the annoying filing-in the information via a website and order our food much faster.

8. Health and Fitness

Various chatbots can help you to keep your health and give you tips on how to get in shape. They can help you find workouts, yoga guides and provide you with nutritional tips.

9. Toys

We all know how kids are talking about their toys; now with “Hello Barbie,” the interaction is on both sides and it gives kids a new experience with their toys.

10. Tax Bot

Tax bots are showing up and helping people resolve the complexes of filing taxes and providing guidance and tips. The chatbot “AskMyUncleSam” can answer tax and financial queries and is making life easier for a lot of Americans.

Final Thoughts

Here you have 10 ways that we use chatbots and how they prove to be perfect for the job.

Don’t waste time, for companies who don’t have a chatbot will miss a significant opportunity and may lose customers.

Build your chatbot today and make it right. Our platform at ChattyPeople is easy to use, and we will represent your chatbot to your customers via Facebook or Slack.

We always forget our friends’ telephone numbers, and I don’t even want to talk about calculating any type of mathematics. Even with our smartphones, we still could not compete with a computer when data processing is the topic.

Computers are getting faster and faster, and much easier to use. We went from a basic mouse and pad with our computers to using our thumbs on touchscreens. And we are in search of more and much faster and easier ways of doing things all the time.

This is where Artificial Intelligence steps in.

We gave the smart machines a way to learn and be smarter which allows us to relax a little more and do our jobs a little faster.

Personal Virtual Assistants

We are all heading to having a personal Jarvis if you are familiar with Iron Man’s Jarvis assistant. Yes, we will be able to transfer all of our monitoring activities to our personal assistant.

Our personal chatbot is going to be able to monitor all our transactions and bills and give us a better insight of the actual situation, finance-wise, we are in.

Personal Virtual Advisors

With the ability to monitor and give us constant updates on our finances, a chatbot can advise us on our spending behavior.

They will help us to build and improve credit scores. They will be able to give us a solution on bettering our financial situations. And, with all of this information in their hand, they will find us the right credit card.

We don’t have the time now to do that for ourselves and search all the banks and find the right products that can improve our financial situations, but Artificial Intelligence-powered programs will do that easily.

Offer Security Online

With the use of Smartphones, security has increased in the past few years. And with the involvement of AI into our financial institutions, that will increase even more.

Let me give you an example with iPhone: We are storing a lot of personal data on our phone, and if we lose it, we could be vulnerable, and our identifications can be stolen.

But the good thing is that we have several protections at hand:

• GPS so we can track the phone
• A personal code to enter into the phone
• Protection from the manufacturer

In this case, Apple will block the phone if it gets in wrong hands. With this security option, at least we have the time to take the necessary measures to protect our finances.

The story is little different if we lose our wallet or purse, and with our credit cards, and without of our phones in reach, we are pretty vulnerable. We need to call our banks or run home and use our laptops to freeze our accounts. And this is the least of our problems, as we need to prove to the financial institutions that, in fact, we are who we say we are.

Additonally, with so many passwords, numbers and security words, we can end up with a big headache when trying to remember them.

Hopefully, with the use of Artificial Intelligence, all this will end, as all you need to do is scan your face and talk to your phone so it can recognize your voice.

AI Final Thoughts

AI ─ the final frontier ─ this is the moment of the human mission to explore the unknown digital world, to seek out new life and to go boldly where no man has gone before.

For more information on how to build your personal chatbot, visit us here at ChattyPeople and get started for free today!

Slack, it’s becoming more and more popular among companies and teams every day. It provides virtual offices in better and more organized ways.

How to Organize Your Organization?

It’s funny, but that’s the meaning of the word organization: a group of people to be organized under one roof so they can work productively.

The Slack platform is where work happens, as it’s a virtual office that allows your team to be more organized, in one place. They have revolutionized the way teams work, providing a unique platform where your team is connected and works together.

The Slack platform allows you to use applications within, which makes work more convenient and much faster than before. Instead of using more applications and opening a ton of tabs in your browser, you can simply integrate most of them inside the Slack workplace.

Here is a list of 6 Slack Bot Apps that can help your team to be more organized, increase productivity, and even save time:

1. Google Drive

A lot of us use Google Drive to store files online, share them and most importantly, we can access them from anywhere, and Google makes it pretty secure.

Today, we can install the App on the Slack platform, and it’s easier to share files with your teammates.

So, if you use Google Drive, this is the App you need to install within your Slack platform.

2. Baremetrics

Subscription Analytics

Insights

Notifications

All Within Slack

This application, Baremetrics, will provide you a method for monitoring your companies daily activities inside your workplace without switching between tabs and using more software that is needed.

And, the best of all, is that you can get instant updates on new customers, cancellations, failed charges, upgrades, etc.

Also, with this App, you can provide your team with daily, weekly and monthly reports on metrics like MRR, LTV and much more.

3. Sway Finance

If you are in need for more than stripe data, the Sway Finance Bot is for you. It will integrate your bank account and help you to monitor your expenses and check your balances.

4. Security Bot

It`s always good to try to be safer, and it will not harm you if you increase the safety in your digital workplace.

With the Security Bot, which is made by well-known MetaCert Company, it is focused on the safety of Chat Apps and will provide free monitoring on your Slack channels and remove any malicious links.

Additionally, it will give you a little piece of mind knowing that the Security Bot is within your Slack workplace.

5. Geekbot

Scheduling daily, weekly or biweekly meetings helps a lot for teams to stay more productive and transparent.

In these meetings, you can talk about your goals, what and who is working on what, and what the next project is.

Geekbot helps everyone to get updates for the current project, which makes it better and adds more productive employees to the business.

Now you can save some time and use Geekbot to send a questionnaire to your team members and get the updates of the project, which the bot will gather the data and share it through the channel.

Using Geekbot will help your business to grow, and it will increase the productivity of your team.

6. Giphy Bot

It`s always good to mix work with some fun. This bot will provide you with animations and a little charm mixed in with humor and will make your conversations more visual. Try it out!

Final Thoughts

We can do so much more with the use of chatbots, as they are fast, smart and growing from day to day.

Companies initially started selling from a store, then online, via mail; from physical to digital.

The retail segment has transformed in so many ways in the past 20 years, and now, the transformation upon retail strikes again.

What is the most crucial thing for digital transformation in retail?

Here is what we think is the game changer:

Facebook

♦ Facebook’s Platform

Facebook has the biggest user base out of all the sites on the internet. Facebook will help chatbots transform the digital way of shopping.

♦ Facebook’s Users

The number of users that Facebook has will become the number one reason for businesses to sell on their platform. With a wide range of audiences in one place, it is becoming the biggest Mall in the digital world. And, who would not want a prime store with this much traffic?

♦ Facebook’s Security

Security provided by Facebook is a big deal for everyone. To let others work on security and improve it without spending time and money on your side is a huge plus. That’s not all, with well-known payment methods, your clients will feel safe to make a purchase and become returning customers without any issues.

♦ Facebook’s Messenger

Messenger App is the most used chat application today, and Facebook is moving forward to monetize this App.

With the ability that Facebook provides to companies to launch their own chatbots into Messenger, it will provide a faster and better experience for the Millennials.

Furthermore, Facebook is changing the way we shop providing us with the One App for all.

Facebook planted retail seeds all over the internet, and all we need to do is to wait and see how they will grow.

What will Help Chatbots to Dominate the Retail Segment?

♦ Artificial Intelligence

With building smart chatbots that are able to learn and improve themselves, day by day, they will become top salesmen through time.

This ability given to a machine will change retail, for sure. Having a personal shopping advisor, that will be able to recommend products for your style, will be a lasting time saver.

♦ NLP Natural Language Processing

Giving the skill to a machine to talk like us, powered by AI, will change the way we look at machines.

Chatbots will soon mimic human-like conversations like never seen before and give us a more natural way to interact with them.

♦ The Beginning of How our Digital World is Changing

This is just the beginning of how our digital world will change. These smart machines will provide us a new way of shopping, and they will become our trusted advisors.

This opportunity created for the retailer will reach customers like never before and will give the reason for everyone to jump on the chatbot bandwagon because the time will come where retail will be entirely digital.

Final Thoughts with ChattyPeople

The year has not yet ended; don’t miss out on building your chatbot today.

Use all the strategies that you can think of to promote your chatbot, and give it awareness. Use followers of your brand to promote the chatbot through them. Get your chatbot’s information on the Facebook Bot Directory, as well.

2. Not Naming Your Bot

Giving your bot a confusing name or something similar to another bot of a well-known brand can confuse customers, and it will be hard to find your bot. Think carefully about your bot’s name, because your chatbot is an ambassador of your company.

3. Advertising Your Bot as Human

Trying to fool your customers that the chatbot is a live agent won’t work out. First of all, the fast responses from your chatbot can give your customers the suspicion that it is a machine behind the communication, not a human, after all.

Also, if your bot does not offer the correct responses, and you portray it as a human agent, that will look even worse for your company. Make sure there is always an option to connect to a human agent if the customer desires to do so.

4. Not Testing Before Launching

If you don’t do the necessary tests before launching your chatbot, it might give the wrong impression and build a bad name for itself and your company.

5. Not Applying Clear Information Text

Responding with text replies that are too long will misguide the customer, and he will lose interest in using it. Your chatbot should give a clear and straightforward answer with enough information to resolve the problem.

6. Not Pushing or Over Pushing Offers

Over-promoting your marketing campaign and bombarding customers with promotional items that are not tailored for everyone will end being considered “spamming your chatbot.”

At the same time, be sure to promote the correct offers to the right customers. Let your bot learn each customer’s preferences to do this efficiently.

7. Not Giving Your Bot a Human Touch

The biggest mistake is to give the chatbot liberty to do everything by itself. Human touch is still necessary for larger and more technical or personal issues. You need to provide your customers via your chatbot a way to be connected with a human when needed.

8. Not Solving The Entire Problem

Make the chatbot’s abilities transparent for the user. If you don’t provide the information of what can it do, the customer can get frustrated for not getting the needed information and will lose time. In the end, you may end up losing the customer, as well.

9. Building the Chatbot From Scratch

There are a lot of reasons why you should not start to build your chatbot from scratch, all on your own. Time and effort are two, and there are so many traditional uses of third-party companies that can be easily integrated with pre-built chatbot platforms.

Moreover, it’s easier and more efficient to integrate some of Google’s services from a pre-built chatbot platform, such as ChattyPeople, then develop some similar services for yourself.

Final Thoughts

Use this guide for a little guidance on what to avoid and what to concentrate on when building your chatbot.

Build a chatbot today, as it will help your customers, and provide a bigger audience for your brand.

ChattyPeople is here to help with building your chatbot for your business. Use our easy-to-use platform and capitalize on the free starter plan.

The purpose of conversational banking is to interact with a smart program that will help you get the information you need.

You can ask chatbots simple inquires about:

♦ Account information
♦ Balances
♦ Routing numbers

Plus, much more.

Why Use Chatbots for Banking?

Why, when we can get all that information via websites?

First of all, chatbots are fast. Yes, they are faster than humans, and they can find the answer and reply to questions even more quickly.

There is no more “thank you for your patience,” as we are receiving the information instantly. They can calculate and help you with decisions on things you might want to buy, give you a visual chart of your spending habits, recommend if that is the right thing to do, and if you can you afford to buy without future financial discomfort.

How Can Chatbots Work on Messenger?

Using chatbots provided for the Messenger platform is more convenient because it’s faster. But if your Facebook account is not linked to your bank account, for example, your chatbot will connect you through Yodlee which is a Software Company that develops an account aggregation service.

A few things you can use Yodlee for:

♦ Credit card balances
♦ Bank statements
♦ Travel rewards

Several companies specialize in improving the banking experience and have developed Artificial Intelligence to provide a better customer experience.

One of these companies is Clinc, a company stationed in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Clinc is founded by AI and Systems Research Professors from the University of Michigan: Professor Jason Mars, Professor Lingjia Tang, Dr. Michael Laurenzano and Johan Hauswald.

Back in September, Clinc created the Finie bot ─ a name created by combining “Finance” and “Genie.” Clinc is aiming to be the brain behind the banking services for delivering interactive customer experience through intelligent machines.

Final Thoughts with ChattyPeople

From branches to ATMs via Apps and chatbots, this is the direction of the most powerful industry in the world, “Banks.” And it will be for everyone.